SUMMARY: MittMedia’s new Live Video Hubs greatly improves its live, breaking news and sports coverage by overcoming numerous technical and workflow challenges. The end result is more timely content, higher-quality video, and a dramatic reduction in failed transmissions.

MittMedia overcomes broadcast challenges with Live Video Hub

By Evelina Davidsson

Head of Online Video

MittMedia

Gävle, Sweden

Connect

In 2015, MittMedia was brainstorming for a better way to broadcast live video.

At that time, broadcasts went directly on air (or the Web site) without the possibility to add graphics or other elements and visuals, or to provide technical support. Approximately half of all live transmissions were failures, often due to technical issues.

If an inappropriate incident happened, the only way to remedy it was to shut down the broadcast. The quality of the content was inconsistent and usually poor in terms of diversification.

With 28 local newspapers in Sweden — all in different regions of the country and all with different preconditions — MittMedia faced a challenge with its need to provide live coverage to its customers, particularly with implementing video in breaking news situations.

In early 2016, MittMedia came up with an answer: The Live Video Hub.

The Live Video Hub is a unique concept, providing strength, flexibility, and reliable content delivery for smaller news organizations in breaking news and live broadcast situations. The hub enables local reporters in smaller newsroom to meet audience demand for fast, digital news. It also allows them to broadcast news in a way only available to large networks before.

The Live Video Hub is formed by two stationary units, containing master control rooms and two broadcast studios. The crew consists of six co-workers, all operating as anchors/producers, as well as additional facilitators in ad hoc situations as they arise.

The MittMedia Live Video Hub team creates innovative breaking news.

Today, MittMedia’s live news transmissions go from the field to the video hub, where the coaching takes place.

The broadcast is supported with a news anchor and the possibility to enhance the transmission with graphics, maps, visuals, and phone interviews. The broadcasts are supervised and controlled by a producer, allowing the publisher to make decisions during the transmission.

Meanwhile, the reporter out in the field can focus on gathering information and reporting throughout the live events, rather than worrying about potential technical problems.

The results of the Live Video Hub have been groundbreaking. Each of the 550 MittMedia reporters have been trained to broadcast live — both in breaking news situations and planned broadcasts — assisted by the range of broadcasting tools that the Hub makes available.

With this new technology, we can now promise our audience that we will live broadcast from wherever something happens, whenever it happens.

The strength of the Hub has been even more noticeable in broadcasts from large sports events and in breaking news situations, with several MittMedia reporting teams that provide our audience with rapid, instant news coverage.

From reporters covering live news to the video hub stations for technology assistance, breaking live news is covered better.

The number of live broadcasts supported by the Live Video Hub are constantly increasing, with a current average of just over 50 per week. The quality of our live video is higher, the content better, and our number of failed transmissions are below one percent.

Due to the Live Video Hub, MittMedia can now compete on the same playing field as the larger networks, and be able to be where the action is. We deliver local online live video in a way that has not been seen before in Sweden. And for future broadcasts, we believe the only limit is our imagination.

About Evelina Davidsson

Evelina Davidsson is head of online video at MittMedia, based in Gävle, Sweden. She can be reached at evelina.davidsson@mittmedia.se.